Construction Of The Globe Theatre The G.T. example essay topic

The Globe Theatre 1. Prehistory Shakespeare joined the Lord Chamberlain men in 1594. At that time the company didn't have an own theatre. Sometimes they played in, , The Theatre' or in the, , Curtain-Theatre'. After James Burbage died in 1598, the lease of the land where, , The Theatre' was built, was passed. His sons Cuthbert and Richard Burbage tried to convince the owner to renew the lease, but he didn't.

So Cuthbert and Richard leased land at the south bank of the Themse. Half of the needed money was raised by the Burbage brothers, the other half was raised by five actors of the group, one of them was Shakespeare. As the owner wasn't in London for some days, the people of the company teared the theatre down and transported the material over the Themse to the new land. The Globe Theatre was established between pubs and brothels (Kneipen und Bordelle). The theatre building was finished in 1599 and the first performance was in the summer of 1599.2.

The construction of the Globe Theatre The G.T. was London's most important public theatre. The name of the G.T. came from a sign beyond the gate, where Hercules was shown together with a globe. Around the picture there was written the sentence: 'To tus mund us a git ', that means: 'The whole world is a stage'. The G.T. was made from wood. It was an almost round building. There was place for circa 1200 people.

A roof made of straw protected the three galleries inside the theatre and also the dressing-room but not the stage. Even if it was raining, the actors had to play. The court was surrounded by the galleries. Most of the stage laid in the court. The stage was a large platform. At the back, on each side of the platform, were two large doors.

In the centre of the platform was a recess or inner stage, which was usually concealed by a curtain. But there was no front curtain to hide the stage completely and separate the actors from their audience. 3. The actors and the audience The actors were all men. Even the female roles were played by boys. The actors had to learn 800 lines a day, that was the reason why they could play 70 roles after three years.

They acted without any costumes or scenery, instead they played in their own clothes. There was no real owner of the theatre and no boss. The actors were their superiors themselves. Most of the actors also helped to build the Globe Theatre. The performance was shown during daylight hours in the afternoon because in that time they had no lamps.

At the theatre's tower there was hoisted a flag when a performance took place. The colour of the flag indicated the day's feature: black signified tragedy; white, comedy; and red, history. The performance was shown without any break. Ticket prices depended on the location of the seat. The lowest price was one Penny, but then you had to stay in the background together with the mob. The more you could pay the better places you got.

Some special guests sat on the stage. The audience were also the critics. If the people were dissatisfied when they watched the performance, they threw mouldered food on the stage. 4. History In 1599 the, , Globe Theatre' was firstly imitated by another company. Today there are many imitations in the whole world.

One is built only 200 yards away from the old, , Globe Theatre' and was finished in 1996. But back to the original, , Globe Theatre'. During a performance in 1613 the theatre burned down. It was rebuilt in 1614. (Erg " antung: But this time it was built with stone to reduce the danger of burning down again). In 1642 the parliament passed an ordinance that shut down all the theatres.

In 1644 the, , Globe Theatre' was razed and torn down by Puritans.